You can’t proceed with a construction project in Miami if you don’t receive zoning board approval. Plain and simple. In many instances, even if you aren’t trying to rezone a property, there are special and/or historic districts across Miami-Dade County for which you have to get a specific zoning board’s sign-off before moving ahead with the project.

Because zoning approval is a prerequisite for commercial construction in Miami-Dade County, knowing what to do and when is important for getting your project started on the right foot. Here are some of the main steps to ensure your project plans will be approved by the zoning committee.

Process for Securing Zoning Board Approval in Miami

• Survey the land – Once you have secured the land for your build, you need to have it surveyed. What’s more, it needs to be platted. A plat survey is an officially drawn map of a land area. It defines the boundaries and distances accurately and to scale. If your land isn’t platted, you will have to get a land-use attorney and/or a surveyor who specializes in topography to see if it’s zoned correctly.

• Note if the land is in a special/historic district – Miami-Dade has separate committees that first reviews the land to see if it is in a special/historic district. You cannot pass “go” until this committee reviews your application to ensure that specific parameters and requirements for each district have been met. Important to note: one property can be in more than one district.

• Identify your plan for utilities – You will need a civil engineer to sign off on how you are going to connect the utilities in your new building.

• Identify your plan for the building – Next, you need to detail what the building will look like. This includes things like height, appearance and floor area ratio (FAR). FAR is a measurement of the building’s floor area in relation to the size of the property’s lot.

These are the main steps to take before submitting your zoning approval documents to the City of Miami, and they need to be done prior to pulling permits or beginning any other steps in construction. Our team at Seacoast Construction is very familiar with the process and will ensure all submitted documentation is accurate and named correctly so your project can move through the zoning board approval as quickly and seamlessly as is possible. Contact us today to learn more about commercial construction in Miami and to discuss your project.